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iOS 18 could supercharge Safari with more than just Apple's AI features
- Safari on iOS 18 and macOS 15 may pack an AI-powered summarization feature that leverages an on-device LLM.
- It may also include a new web content eraser, which would enable users to delete webpage elements and sections, such as ad banners.
- Apple may upgrade Visual Look Up in 2025 to include support for identifying consumer products in images — not just pets, plants, and landmarks.
It’s no secret that iOS 18 will offer some major new features powered by artificial intelligence. In fact, Apple CEO Tim Cook explicitly stated that the company would be revealing its AI goods at some point this year. While the specifics of these AI upgrades are generally vague now, it appears that Safari on iOS 18 may pack some of them.
According to information obtained by AppleInsider, Safari on iOS 18 and macOS 15 will receive a major update. For starters, users may be able to rely on AI-enhanced browsing and text summarization, similar to what the Arc browser currently offers. The on-device Ajax large language model (LLM) would reportedly scan the text to identify the main topics and summarize web content accordingly.
Interestingly, Safari version 18 may also introduce a web eraser, allowing users to remove certain elements from the sites they’re browsing. It will reportedly support the removal of ad banners, images, text, and other sections, potentially sherlocking 1Blocker in the process. The best part is that Safari may remember what elements a user has erased, even after they close the tab or app. This would retain their preferred layouts per each modified site indefinitely.
Otherwise, Safari 18 on macOS 15 may also include an updated address bar UI that matches that of iPadOS. Through this design tweak, Apple would further streamline Safari’s user interface across its different operating systems.
The report also points to an upgraded Visual Look Up feature that may debut in 2025. If it comes to fruition, users will be able to identify consumer products in images across the different apps. For reference, Visual Look Up is currently limited to images of pets, plants, and landmarks.
It’s worth mentioning that Apple engineers are reportedly testing these features internally. So, naturally, there’s a chance that some (or all) of them won’t make it to the public iOS 18 and macOS 15 beta builds, let alone the stable releases. Ultimately, we will get a definite answer on June 10, when Apple officially previews iOS 18 and macOS 15 during the main WWDC24 keynote.